LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



6*U*^*>UuilA/^ Sffl. fa-4^- 910 




STORIES ABOUT EGYPT. 




GRAND HALL OF KAENAC 






BOSTON: 
PUBLISHED BY JOHN P. JEWETT AND COMPANY. 

CLEVELAND, OHIO: 
JEWETT, PROCTOR, AND WORTHINGTON. 

NEW YORK : SHELDON, LAMPORT, AND BLAKEMAN. 
1856. 



* 




STORIES ABOUT EGYPT, 



iTTIH FOR CHILBR' 



BASED UPON 



THOMPSON'S "EGYPT, PAST AND PRESENT." 






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MRS. JOSEPH H. HANAFORD. 



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BOSTON: 
PUBLISHED BY JOHN P. JEWETT AND COMPANY. 

CLEVELAND, OHIO: 
JEWETT, PROCTOR, AND WORTHINGTON. 

NEW YORK : SHELDON, LAMPORT, AND BLAKEMAN. 








Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by 
John P. Jewett and Company, 
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusettg. 






STEREOTYPED AT THE 
BOSTON STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY. 




STORIES ABOUT EGYPT 




INTRODUCTORY STANZAS. 

Afar beneath the tropic sun 

There is a country fair ; 
Dear children, let me tell you why 

I'd gladly wander there. 

It is a land of flowers and birds, 
. Clear skies, and breezes bland ; — 

These call not loudest to my soul, 
Nor yet its ruins grand. 



But I would see the land where once 
Those Bible scenes transpired, 

Which, pondered in life's early morn, 
My youthful soul inspired. 

I'd see where Joseph once was carried, 

And as a slave was sold, 
Yet, by his God protected, rose 

Till Egypt's court he ruled. 

'Twas there in Egypt Moses slept, 

The silvery Nile beside, 
Till Pharaoh's daughter found the child, 

And saved him from the tide. 

There years before did Isaac find 

Egyptian wife so fair, 
And by the well-side Jacob, too, 

Met lovely Rachel there. 




STORIES ABOUT EGYPT. 



There was the ancient church of God, 

In bonds by Pharaoh held, 
Till, o'er the Bed Sea's wondrous road, 

To flee in haste compelled. 

Yet Egypt is not wholly fair ; 

It has one deep, dark stain ; 
Still human beings dwelling there 

Are bound in slavery's chain. 

that the gospel might be spread 

O'er all that land afar, 
Till with the Sun of Truth shall rise 

Fair Freedom's beaming star. 



I 



POMPEY'S PILLAR AND CLEOPATRA'S NEEDLE. 



My young friends, I wish to set before you 
a true picture of life in Egypt as it is this very 
day; and I have chosen the interesting work 
of a late traveller there to aid me in placing 
vividly before your mental vision the sights 
and sounds, the magnificence and ruins, the 
tyranny and the slavery, of that far-distant 
country, which, as your maps teach you, lies in 
the north-western corner of Africa, having on 
the north the beautiful Mediterranean, and on 
the east the renowned Red Sea, over which 
the children of Israel so miraculously passed, 
while far away to the west stretches the dreary 
Desert of Sahara, with its burning sands. 

In the month of January, 1853, this traveller 
entered Egypt by way of Alexandria. Early 
on the morning after his arrival, he walked out 
to one of the gates of the city, — for this city, 
like many of the larger towns of the East, is 
surrounded by walls,- — and, to use his own 
graphic words, " Immediately without this gate 
we came for the first time upon a truly Orien- 
tal scene. Upon a large, open area, camels, 
sheep, and buffalo oxen were reposing, while 
their owners were chaffering, pipe in hand ; a 
caravan of camels, laden with merchandise of 
various sorts, was entering the gate ; the tall 



palm tree lifted its spreading top towards the 
noonday sun. while groves of acacias, h'ning the 
roads, offered their cooling shade. On a neigh- 
boring mound stood a solitary Arab, his gaunt 
figure and turbaned head in bold relief against 
the sky ; the diminutive donkey, urged forward 
by his driver's prong, went nimbly by ; a score 
of wolfish dogs barked and howled at the ap- 
proach of strangers ; but above their clamor 
were heard the myriad voices of birds, whose 
freedom had never been invaded by the sports- 
man, and whose song was in harmony with the 
delicious air and the gorgeous drapery in 
which all nature was inwrapped. To complete 
the picture, the minaret that overlooks the ba- 
zaar loomed in the distance, and immediately 
before us Pompey's Pillar reared its stupendous 
mass of polished granite in solitary grandeur." 

Little is known of the origin of this pillar, 
and the inscription upon it seems to show that 
the name it now bears was not its original one. 
It is a column of red granite, ninety-nine feet 
in height and thirty in circumference. 

There is no method of attaining the sum- 
mit, and thus securing an extended view, as 
the children who ascend Bunker Hill Monu- 
ment can obtain; but some years ago, as I 



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STORIES ABOUT EGYPT. 



have read, a party of English sailors resolved 
upon reaching the top of this towering pillar. 
They commenced their plan of ascent by flying 
a kite directly over the summit ; then, by their 
expertness, they gradually caused a rope to 
reach from the earth thither, drawing it over, 
and securing it, till finally they were enabled 
to climb the rope, and stand triumphant on the 
perilous eminence. Here they hoisted the 
^English flag, spent a season of rejoicing, and at 
nignt returned to their ship. Probably no 
others ever stood where they did since the 
pillar was reared in Egypt. 

Besides this pillar, there are but two other 
relics of the former splendor of Alexandria. 
These are called Cleopatra's Needles, though 
they are probably misnamed, as the hiero- 
glyphics upon them date as far back as the 
time when the Israelites fled from Egypt. 
Each pillar is a single block of red granite 



about seventy feet high, and nearly eight feet 
in diameter at the base. Only one is standing, 
which is shown in the picture ; the other lies 
half buried in mud and sand. 

Cleopatra, whose name these obelisks now 
bear, was the last native and independent 
Queen of Egypt. She was a very charming 
woman, but far from being a good one. She 
finally caused her own death, after being taken 
captive and losing her throne. It is supposed 
that an asp was conveyed to her, at her own 
request, while she was imprisoned, by a peas- 
ant, and in a basket of figs. She allowed the 
asp to bite her, and consequently died. These 
scenes occurred about twenty-eight years before 
Christ was born. Had she lived in later times, 
and been a follower of Jesus, she would have 
conducted far differently. Such a course as 
hers would never have met the approbation of 
the humble and compassionate Saviour. 



SIGHTS IN ALEXANDRIA. 



A few days after his walk to Pompey's Pil- 
lar, our traveller began to prepare for a voyage 
up the Nile. To do this he must first select 
a boat ; and as it was inconvenient to walk to 
all the places he must visit, he accepted the aid 
of a donkey. You have a fair view of that an- 
imal and his attendant in the picture. How 
different he looks from the richly caparisoned 
horse which a traveller might have in our 
country ! And one would certainly suppose 
that boy was in a warm climate to observe his 
scanty dress, with its flowing sleeves. Wher- 
ever a stranger goes, a troop of these donkeys 
follow. When one first steps into the street 
he is instantly surrounded by donkey boys, 
desirous of obtaining employment, and clamor- 
ous in urging him to ride. Our traveller 
counted ten so near the door of the hotel, 
blocking up the passage, that he had to exert 
himself to get into the street. The first time 
he attempted to ride a donkey the saddle girth 
was not fast, and he fell over into the mud. 
This was more laughable than dangerous, as 



the animal was only two and a half feet high. 
The traveller says, i( It was, however, a great 
event to the other donkey boys, who at once 
clustered around me, crying, ' That bad don- 
key ; here good donkey, good saddle.' I was 
soon astride of another, and our cavalcade 
moved gayly forward. Each donkey is fol- 
fowed by a driver, and obeys his orders instead 
of his rider's. When you are walking or gen- 
tly trotting, an unseen thrust of the driver's 
stick into the donkey's haunches almost jerks 
you from your saddle, as the poor beast jumps 
to quicken his pace, and again at the top of 
his speed, a pull at his tail brings him and you 
to a dead halt." The traveller adds what may 
interest you, young friends, viz., " The pace of 
a donkey is generally a very pleasant amble, 
and he is such a patient and docile little crea- 
ture that he would make a desirable addition 
to the sports of children in our country vil- 
lages." 

Our traveller visited many places of interest 
in Alexandria, and among them the slave mar- 



STORIES ABOUT EGYPT. 



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ket. which, alas ! " still exists there in .open 
day. The market is an enclosed area of about 
one hundred feet square, with rows of cells 
upon three sides, in which the slaves are kept " 
till purchased. They are allowed to range the 
yard, but several are made to occupy one 
apartment, where they eat and sleep upon the 
ground. And when he was there, most of the 
slaves were women and childrerL My young 
readers, how would yo u like to share the fete v 
of those unfortunate children ? If their moth- 
ers should be sold to one purchaser and the 
children to a different one, they might never 
meet again on earth. 

One of the slaves interested our traveller 
exceedingly. She was a Nubian girl of about 
sixteen, and " her only clothing was a piece of 
blue -cotton cloth, not made into a garment, 
which hung from one shoulder about her waist 
to her knees ; she was stout and hearty, but 
her countenance was as sad as any I ever 
looked upon ; "and in her nakedness and degra- 



dation she showed the native modest} - of 
woman by shrinking from the presence of 
strangers into the den allotted to her. I asked 
her price," says the traveller, a and was told 
she could be purchased for a hundred dollars. 
Perchance she was the daughter of some Nubian 
chief, whose misfortunes in war had doomed his 
family to slavery ; no doubt she had a home, 
however rude, — perhaps father, mother, broth- 
ers, sisters, — from which she had been torn 
away forever." 

O, how dreadful is this system of slavery, so 
wicked in the sight of God, and so productive 
of misery to the oppressed ! It is wrong for 
any nation to enslave human beings, but es- 
pecially is it wrong for slavery to exist where 
the people are enlightened and profess to be a 
Christian nation. Little readers, when you 
pray at night, do not forget to offer up one 
petition for the poor slave, and for his master 
too — that his master may forsake his iniquity 
.and the bondman mav be freed. 



THE BAZAAR 



"While our traveller was waiting' in Alex- 
andria, he sauntered into the garden of an Eng- 
lish gentleman, and enjoyed there the rich per- 
fume and the gaudy hues of the flowers of 
even - clime, and the delicious view of orange 
groves, reminding him that he was far away 
from his home in the temperate zone. But he 
saw also, in this garden of a hundred acres, 
tomatoes, peas, beans, celery, cabbages, cauli- 
flowers, radishes, turnips — vegetables so fa- 
miliar as to remind him of home, and which 
were all ripe for the market, though it was the 



middle of January, and winter was reigning in 
New York. The difference served to remind 
him how iar he was from his own fireside. 

On their way home from this garden the}' 
had a donkey race ; and when they reached 
the hotel they found that they had only to pay 
" twelve and a half cents each, for animals 
which, with their drivers, had been in attend- 
ance four hours." 

Sometimes, while in Alexandria, our trav- 
eller and his companions, one of whom was a 
lady, went out to make purchases at the shops. 



Dear children, you would be surprised 

Egyptian stores to Yiew ; 
"Bazaars" they're called, and curious look, 

"When to the sight they're new. 
Just glance across — the picture see — 
How strange it looks to you and me ! 



STORIES ABOUT EGYPT. 



Outside the houses, in their stalls, 

The merchants sit. all day, 
Scarce rising e'en to show their goods, 

Or to receive their pay : 
Such indolence we'd scarce commend — ■ 
Ne'er imitate them, little friend. 

The baker, with his oven round, 

Of mud, beside his door 
In early morning may be seen, 

His thin cakes buttering o'er ; 
And women, veiled, are sitting there 
Upon the ground, in trade to share. 

No newsboy meets the traveller there, 

No postman there he sees ; 
But janizaries, armed and stern, 

Eacli lawless one to seize. 
There may the barber, too, be seen, 
"Who shaves the head, but not the chin. 

Behold the scales that merchant holds ! 

Of justice oft they speak ; 
But 0, Egyptians are not just, 

Or every chain they'd break, 
That each poor slave, who croucheth there, 
Miirht once again be free as air. 

Alas ! that where kind Nature showers 

Her gifts in bouateous store, 
The people, as in our fair land, 

Still love the glittering ore ; 
So that immortal men are sold, 
And kept in bonds for sordid gold. 

Great God ! the eyes of men unclose, 
Till they their crime shall see, 

In buying, selling, chaining those 
Whom God himself made free. 

0, haste and bid the bondman see 

The slave's triumphant jubilee ! 




SAILING ON THE NILE. 



The boat in which our traveller and his 
friends sailed up the Nile was called a Doha- 
bieh. You will see by the picture that it looks 
far different from any of the boats to be seen 
in Boston harbor ; but it proved a very com- 
fortable home for the travellers during the 
weeks that they spent upon the bosom of the 
river, which was once the object of Egyptian 
adoration. The traveller remarks, " Now we 
are fairly afloat upon the most historical, the 
most fertilizing, the most wonderful river in 
the world. But what a dreamy atmosphere is 
this ! — bland, bright, pure, dry, the thermom- 
eter at nearly seventy in the shade ! What a 
soil is this, covering even the borders of the 



desert with fertility ! "What an illimitable ex- 
tent of field without fence, or tree, or any land- 
mark, clothed with the richest verdure, the 
springing wheat, the fresh and fragrant clover, 
or upturned by recent ploughing to the cheerful 
sun ! What vast herds of cattle, mingled with 
flocks of goats and sheep, the patient donkey 
and the lazy camel stretched upon the sward ! 
What multitudes of birds, making the air 
vocal with their song, skimming the surface of 
the water, and alighting with pleasing confi- 
dence upon the deck of our vessel ! " Would 
you not like to visit the Nile, my youthful 
readers, and view all this scenery on the river's 
banks yourselves ? 



Our traveller left his pleasant home 

To seek for health afar ; 
And sought upon the beauteous Nile 

The dawn of health's bright star. 

God blessed him on the pathless deep, 

Till when, in Egypt fair, 
He felt a " boyish gush of life " 

Beneath that balmy air. 

Then sailing up the mighty Nile, 

Or resting on its wave, 
He wondered not Egyptians loved 

In this bright stream to lave. 

All soft the breezes fanned his brow, 

E'en mid the sultry noon ; . 
And glorious were those sparkling waves, 

Beneath the silver moon. 

Methinks that while his life remains, 

That traveller, evermore, 
Will love the memory of the Nile, 

The scenes upon that shore. 



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STORIES ABOUT EGYPT. 



13 



A NILE VILLAGE- 






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Orange Girl. 



ALONG the banks of the Nile are many vil- 
lages, the houses of which are " built of bricks 
made of the mud of the Nile, mixed with 
straw, just as it was in the time of Moses, and 
dried in the sun." They are mere huts, with 
mud chimneys, and raised benches of mud, 
which are used for beds when mats are spread 
upon them. There are mats upon the roofs 
also, for sitting or sleeping ; for in these East- 
ern countries the nights are so free from damp- 
ness, and also so warm, that sleeping on the 
roof is very common. How strange it would 
seem to you and me, young reader, to lie down 
upon our pillows and gaze up at the starry 
heavens ! 



In the yard of these hovels the cows, camels, 
sheep, goats, and donkeys are kept during the 
night. We can easily imagine that the place 
cannot be very cleanly. " Each house has one 
or more dogs, which he about the door or on 
the roof, and yelp hideously at the approach 
of a stranger." 

The streets are narrow, but then they never 
have carnages to pass through them; for, 
" except in Alexandria and Cairo, there is not 
a wheeled vehicle in all Egypt." Are you not 
glad, little friends, that you do not reside in 
these miserable villages? Be ever thankful 
that God has placed you in such pleasant, 
clean, and comfortable homes. 



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STORIES ABOUT EGYPT. 



But, after all, the dwellers in these dismal mud 
hovels are more happy than the poor slave, 
even if he dwells with his master in the midst of 
splendor ; for they are free, and are not liable 
to be sold far away from their dear families and 
friends. Mere physical comfort does not repay 
the loss of that priceless possession — liberty. 

But I must tell you about the picture of the 
orange girl. There are bazaars in these vil- 
lages ; but so little business is done that twen- 
ty-five cents' profit in a day would be consid- 
ered a good day's work. In front of the 
bazaars sit the orange women, veiled as you 
see, leaving only the space around the eyes 
uncovered, with their baskets of delicious 
oranges by their side ; and in some places 
one can buy a hundred oranges for fifty cents. 



" The sorriest sight in an Arab village is the 
children." Boys ten or twelve years old are 
often seen without clothing, with the exception 
of a little skull cap, while younger urchins 
wear nothing but a string of beads. This 
scantiness of apparel is the result of poverty. 
" The little girls are always clad in some way, 
and the boys don't seem to know the differ- 
ence. Indeed, children will be happy some 
how^ and it is a blessed thing that they can be. 
But O, for Sabbath schools and boys' meetings 
in this land of degradation ! It is the thought 
of what these naked, sore-eyed urchins are to 
be in their condition here and their destiny 
hereafter that makes your eyes water and your 
heart bleed as you look upon them." 




I would not be an orange girl, 

In hut of mud residing, 
Ne'er daring to remove my veil, 

Through fear of some one's chiding. 

I'd rather be a school girl here, 
With playmates gayly bounding ; 

heavenly Father, thanks to thee 
For 'joys my path surrounding. 



EGYPTIAN WOMEN. 



Our traveller says, " If one would see pas- 
toral life " (which, you are aware, means -the life 
of a shepherd) " in its primitive simplicity, just 
as it was in the days of Abraham, let him come 
and look over the plains of Egypt upon such 
a scene. 

" Yonder is a family tending a mixed flock of 
sheep and goats. The oldest, a lad of twelve, 
has not a shred of clothing except a little skull 
cap ; his three little brothers are in the same 
situation, except that the youngest is minus 
the cap also, and has a great string of beads 
around his neck. Their little sister is done up 
in blue cotton. They have a reed fife, and are 



as happy as the lambs with which they are 
frisking." 
' Instead of going to school as you do, chil- 
dren, decently and comfortably clad, these poor 
children have no school to attend, and most 
of them grow up veiy ignorant. The country 
around them is beautiful, and often gay with vast 
fields of poppies ; but, however beautiful their 
land may be, they are not as favored as the chil- 
dren who dwell in our colder climate, with its 
ice-bound shores, but who possess also the 
blessings of education. 

Then- methods of cultivating the land are ex- 
ceedingly rude. Their ploughs are very simple, 




STORIES ABOUT EGYPT. 



and they sometimes yoke a camel and a cow 
together to draw them. A traveller in Pales- 
tine assures us that it was once customary to 
yoke a woman and a donkey. From this fact 
we can judge a little of the condition of women 
in Egypt. The picture opposite shows you 
how they are accustomed to carry their chil- 
dren. Our traveller says that " the one great 
occupation of the country is that of getting 
the water of the river up into the houses and 
over the land. This is the business of the 
women. Nearly all the water used for drink- 
ing and for cooking is brought from the Nile, as 
there are few wells in the country. Every 
morning you will see the women of the village, 
in long rows, coming down to the river, each 
with one or two water jars, to be filled for the 
day's supply. One of these is usually carried 
on the head. The women of the villages wear 
a blue cotton garment, unmade, but wrapped 
about the person, and a cotton head-piece of 
the same color, which is fastened about the 
forehead, and hangs down over the shoulders, 
and which may be drawn closely about the face. 



It is astonishing to see them rise from the 
ground with a weight of from thirty to fifty 
pounds on top of the head, and, without even 
steadying it with the hand, climb up a steep 
and crumbling bank thirty feet high, and walk 
briskly a quarter of a mile. This gives them 
their erect stature and upright gait, and coun- 
teracts the effect of the bad ah' of the hovels." 

We read in ancient history of a man who ■ 
commenced lifting a calf while very young and 
light, and by daily practice was enabled to lift 
him when full grown. The female children in 
England are accustomed to take long walks, 
increasing them as they grow in years, till 
finally an English lady is able to walk several 
miles each day. It is from pursuing a similar 
course that the women of Egypt are able to 
carry such burdens on their heads. Our trav- 
eller remarks, " I was greatly amused one day 
at seeing a little girl, not four years old, strut- 
ting alongside of her mother with a tiny water 
jar on her head, as if she were a new-made 
queen." 



Say, children, does this picture move 

To laughter or to pity ? 
Such curious sights are often seen 

Within an Eastern city: 

These women walk like English maids 
Out doors in early morning ; 

Health's roses winning to their cheeks, 
While yet the day is dawning. 

More graceful for those heavy loads 

Is each Egyptian maiden, 
And gladsome, even when her head 

With water jars is laden. 



And labor, if the laborer's free, 

We ever must remember, 
Contrasts as much with that of slaves, 

As June with cold December. 



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Woman and' Children. 



18 



STORIES ABOUT EGYPT. 



THE SHADOOF. 



The soil of Egypt is sometimes so parched 
by the tropical sun of that region that it is 
found necessary to water it artificially. A 
large portion of the country is inundated every 
year by the overflowing of the Nile ; but all 
the rest of the watering is done artificially, 
since no rain falls on that land. The machine 
most commonly used for this purpose is called 
the shadoof. " It consists of a pole swung 
between two upright timbers, and having a 
stone or a ball of mud at one end, and a bucket 



of skin at the other. A little trench is cut 
from the river, which feeds a pool below the 
level of the stream, and from this the water is 
dipped up by the bucket, and poured into 
another trench." Through little canals the 
water is conducted from this trench over the 
fields. It is hard work to dip up so much 
water ; and " all day long the half-clad laborer 
at the shadoof moans his monotonous song." 
The picture gives a good idea of this ma- 
chine. 



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Behold where flows the silvery Nile, 
Where lofty palrn trees grow, 

And fruits delicious ripen fast 
Beneath the tropic glow. 



How rich the scene with beauty rare ! 

And yet how strange and sad ! 
Reminding of those southern climes 

Where hearts are seldom glad. 

As laborers in this picture seen, 
So toil the o'ertasked slaves, 

Who, 'neath the frowns of overseers, 
Are sighing for their graves. 

Too many dark-browed human forms 

In slavery are bound, 
Far from the light of learning's torch, 

Far from the gospel's sound. 

0, who can tell, though fair those scenes, 
How sad their hearts may be, 

Who, unrequited, daily toil, 
Ne'er numbered with the free ! 



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STORIES ABOUT EGYPT. 



The great Libyan desert touches upon the 
very banks of the Nile — an immense arid 
waste, with but few signs of life upon it. 
" Here and there a few stunted shrubs marked 
where the sand was a recent deposit upon a 



good soil ; and the sight of a little girl tending 
a solitary calf, far from any human habitation," 
showed how desirous the poor Egyptian peas- 
ant is to improve every inch of fruitnilness. 



CAIRO. 



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This city has been styled by travellers 
" Cairo the Magnificent," from the gorgeous 
beauty of its palaces and gardens. In the 
winter and spring it has a delicious climate, 
and our traveller says, " One never tires of 
strolling under the acacias or in the flower 
gardens, of witnessing the game of throwing 
the lance, and other sports around the cafes on 
its border, of visiting the bazaars, and studying 
from every accessible point Oriental character 
and life." Some of these Oriental scenes are 
not very pleasant ; as, for instance, when one 
meets " men dragged in chains to be enrolled 
in the army, with a troop of mud-besmeared 
women screaming and wailing around them ; 
nor women trudging barefoot, with enormous 
burdens on their heads, while their lords ride 
beside them on donkeys ; nor delicate little 
girls scraping up with their hands the street 
manure, and putting it in baskets on their 
heads, to be taken home and dried for fuel." 
But there are other scenes as strange to Amer- 
ican eyes, and peculiar to the East, which are 
more interesting and sometimes splendid, as 
one meets a " portly Turk, in rich shawl and 
turban, mbunted on his noble steed ; the Copt, 
with his dark turban and robe, jogging along 
upon a donkey ; or a splendid carriage, preceded 
by couriers with wands to prepare the way for 
a portion of the pacha's harem, enveloped in a 
profusion of silks and laces, to take the even- 
ing air." 

I wish, dear children, that you could visit 
the beautiful gardens of Cairo. You would be 
delighted if you could once enter them, and a 
long summer's day would be too short to 
spend in those enchanting places. u The gar- 
dens are laid out somewhat in European style, 



and are kept with great neatness and care. 
They abound in roses and geraniums of every 
variety, and in orange trees of various qualities. 
In the centre of the immense plantation is a 
marble basin of two hundred feet diameter, 
with water several feet in depth, supplied by 
machinery from the Nile, and numerous foun- 
tains, with curious devices, that scatter their 
showers on every side. The whole is' of 
marble, and is surrounded with a spacious cor- 
ridor, in each corner of which is a room ele- 
gantly furnished. Here, on a summer even- 
ing, while the fountains are playing, and jets 
of gas give a fairy illumination to the scene, 
the owner sails in his gayly decorated boat, or 
quietly smokes his ornamented pipe upon the 
central platform, or lounges on the divans 
under the corridor," and realizes much that 
there is of beauty and splendor in an Oriental 
scene. 

About three miles from Cairo is a narrow 
island walled up with solid masonry to resist 
the encroachments of the river. The gardens 
of a pacha (who is a kind of governor) cover 
nearly the whole of this island. They are 
superintended by an Englishman, and contain 
the trees, fruits, and flowers of every clime. A 
beautiful artificial grotto of shells, facing the 
river, affords a cool retreat at one end of the 
island. 

There is a nilometer on this island, which is 
a large cistern, by which the rise of the river 
is measured. When it reaches a certain level, 
they open the sluices or water gates, and per- 
mit the river to flow over the land. They 
celebrate this day with public rejoicings ; for 
were it not for the Nile, their land would be as 
barren as a desert in that rainless climate. 



% 










21 



Opposite this island, which is called Mioda, is 
a place named Geezeh, where one may see the 
old Egyptian method of hatching chickens 
from eggs deposited in ovens. To those chil- 



dren who have been accustomed to see the 
mother hen sitting on her eggs day after day, 
till she finally brings out a brood of little 
chirpers, this would seem very strange. 




THE SLAVE MARKET. 



One of the saddest places to visit in Cairo 
or any other city is the slave market. It is 
painful to visit the prisons and houses of cor- 
rection where old and young people are con- 
fined for the crimes they have committed ; but, 
then, we know that this imprisonment is de- 
served, and therefore it is not half so sorrowful 
a sight as "to behold a slave market, where in- 
nocent human beings are kept in undeserved 
bondage. In Cairo you may visit such a mar- 
ket for the unholy practice of buying and sell- 
ing human beings ; and there " you may look 
on the black daughters of Nubia, and have 
them gather round you in their rags, and beg 
you to buy them, because any change would 
be to them better than to remain in that den. 
Perhaps you might here find the daughter of 
some grief-stricken Hassan — perhaps of some 
palm-tree prince, who has met the misfortunes 
of war. At all events, you would see, through 
this grease, and rags, and matted hair, a girl, 
a woman, with a woman's heart, and a soul 
yearning for the freedom of its native home." 
O, how cruel is that system which condemns 
even women and children to such unhappiness ! 

You perceive that the name of Hassan is 
mentioned above. Let me tell you what our 
traveller says of him. Hassan was engaged at 
Alexandria to be steersman of the boat up the 
Nile, and had received the impression that 
they would go far enough for him to see his 
wife and three children, whom he had not seen 
for six months. He had not heard from them, 
for neither he nor they can write, and if they 
could there is no mail there ; but he sent word 
by a boat that went before them that he was 



coming, and then he purchased new clothes 
for himself and them. When he discovered 
that the boat was only going as far as Thebes, 
he was very much disappointed. They tried 
to comfort him ; but his heart was wounded, 
so that he could only sit in silence and smoke 
his pipe as his only solace, now and then 
pointing towards his home when the passen- 
gers spoke to him. "I called him to me," 
says the traveller, "and showed him some 
beautiful and accurate sketches of the Nile, 
taken near his home. He recognized them, 
and a beam of joy lighted up his features; but 
he turned away, and said he felt as if he must 
cry. I asked him if to look at the pictures 
every day would not do as well as to go home. 
He said the sight of them, made him lose his 
heart, and he had better never look at them 
again. I never witnessed more genuine, man- 
ly sorrow. The domestic attachments of the 
poorer classes in* Egypt and Nubia are very 
strong. Yet Hassan's native Nubia is still a 
hunting ground for slaves. I have seen his 
countrymen and countrywomen in the slave 
markets at Alexandria and Cairo." 

Does it not seem wicked to steal such peo- 
ple, with so much sympathy and love of home, 
from their native places, and sell them as 
slaves, who must never more do as they please, 
but must bow to the will and caprices of a 
self-styled master ? It cannot be obeying the 
golden rule to steal, or sell, or hold slaves. 

But we will turn from this sad topic, and 
think about the picture of ladies riding on 
donkeys. Do you think we should like to 
ride in this manner ? I think not. 



STORIES ABOUT EGYPT. 



2a 



We'd like upon our faces bare 
To feel the balmy breeze, 

And hear, with ears uncovered oft, 
The birds among the trees. 

Yes, little maiden, you and I 
"Would rather walk than ride, 

If we so strangely clad must be, 
And veil ourselves beside. 



'In 



A STREET IN CAIRO. 



E 



Ox the next page is a view of a street in an 
Egyptian city. How different it looks from 
any street in Boston ! Do you observe that 
tree, apparently growing from the top of a 
house? In cities where there is little room 
upon the ground, the people are obliged to 
make their gardens, if they wish any, on the 
tops of their houses, and such places are called 
hanging gardens." We read in ancient history 
of very large and beautiful hanging gardens 
which were built in the city of Babylon. 

It is well that the camels and donkeys of 
Egypt are such docile animals ; for here you 
see that they move along with men and women 
around them, seeming to care far less for their 
presence than if some high-spirited horse were 
careering along. 

There is one part of Cairo where the Eng- 
lish and French have stores, which make the 
scene quite natural ; but our traveller says, if 
you would see Cairo as it really is, supposing 
that you were there, you must " turn your 
donkey into this little arch, that you must 
stoop to enter, and that looks like somebody's 
front gate, and follow up the alley, turning all 
the sharp corners, and twisting round and 
round, and crowding up against the wall to 
make room for a donkey or a camel loaded 
with water skins, or for a fine lady buried in a 
huge, inflated sack of silk, with a pair of gold 
or silver eyelets peering through a long white 
veil of richest lace, and shining slippers, cov- 
ered with embroidery, peeping out from full- 



laced pantalets, that droop over a saddle of 
soft, rich Turkey carpets, the whole pile pre- 
ceded and followed by a train of meek attend- 
ants in fancy turbans and glossy beards. Now 
you begin to see the East. But jog along, 
straining your neck to catch a glimpse of the 
blue streak of sky, up, up through the crevice 
where the overhanging balconies of lattice 
work and palisaded roofs do not quite meet, 
and wondering whether within these walls are 
the marble courts, and open fountains, and the 
silk divans, and the windows and lanterns of 
stained glass, and the little black slaves in red 
and yellow slippers, gliding about with coffee 
in golden cups upon silver platters, of all which 
you have read in story books, but which you 
never expected to see, and cannot well con- 
trive to see even now. So still jog on, your 
donkey picking his way among the pipe bowls 
of reclining Turks at the gates and by the 
coffee houses, till at length you reach that 
grand repository of Oriental wealth and mag- 
nificence — the Turkish bazaar. But no don- 
key must amble here; and so, dismounting, 
you walk among piles of silk and cashmere, 
compressed into little closets, four feet by six, 
amber mouth-pieces, jewelled pipe stems and 
bowls, golden coffee cups, displayed in little 
cases of glass, perfumes of Arabia, gums and 
spices of the Indies, all ranged before these 
diminutive stalls, where by day the owner sits 
cross-legged over his concentrated wealth, 
and by night locks it up with a wooden lock 



i 




ft 



A Street in Cairo. 



24 



STORIES ABOUT EGYPT. 



upon a wooden door, and knows that it is 
safe." 

In Cairo there are " immense areas, in which 
grain and beans are piled up like mountains of 
sand, no doubt as they were in the days of Jo- 
seph. They need no covering where it never 
rains. Here, - too, are piles of large, fresh, 
luscious oranges, at twenty cents the hundred. 
Alas ! all is not poetry in the East, for here 
are also to be seen miserable hovels, around 



which ragged men and naked children, swarm- 
ing with flies, are sunning themselves ; and on 
a splendid avenue of acacias and sycamores 
were little girls scraping together with their 
hands the refuse of passing animals, to be 
dried for fuel to cook their scanty meals." If 
we would present a true picture of Egypt 
to you, children, we must speak of the un- 
pleasant as well as the dehghtful scenes one 
may behold there. + 



LUXOR FROM THE WATER. 



Come, children, gaze with me upon 

An Oriental scene, 
Beneath a blazing, tropic sun, 

All strange to us, I ween. 

The camels seek the river side, 

To quaff its water pure ; 
While on its bosom vessels glide, 

To seek a farther shore. 

Behold the mighty ruins there, 

And see the obelisk rise, 
While palm trees, too, in beauty rare, 

Are towering to the skies. 




Then think of this — that years ago 

That mighty ruin rose ; 
It saw the Christian era dawn, 

And yet may see its close. 

Four thousand years those stones have stood 

In massive grandeur there. 
Who now, among the wise and good, 

Would raise such temples here ? 



"We need them not, for when each stone 

Falls from this temple fair, 
Our country's name, though later known, 

Immortal life shall share. 

For here shall Jesus reign as King, 

His precepts all obey, 
When Freedom's song the slave shall sing, 

And sorrow flee away. 



THE TWO COLOSSI. 



Egypt contains many mighty ruins, at once 
stupendous and magnificent. The ancient 
kings of that country were in the habit of 
constructing immense stone edifices, to be used 
as tombs for their bodies when they died, and 
also hollowed enormous caves in the solid rock, 
and elaborately carved them with every variety 
of beautiful figures, for the same purpose. 
Their tombs were far more elegant in many 
instances than their dwelling houses. It is 
supposed that the pyramids of Egypt, which 
tower in solemn grandeur on the plain, and are 
seen for a long distance by the traveller sailing 
on the Nile, were constructed as tombs for the 
race of the Pharaohs or monarchs of Egypt ; 
and no doubt many slaves were here driven to 
toil so hard that death speedily came to their 
relief. Alas, that in death should be the only 
hope of the slave for rest from cruel toil and 
bondage ! 

Among these mighty ruins of ancient Egypt 
are two gigantic statues in the form of men, sit- 
ting with their hands upon their knees. They 
are about sixty feet in height and seventy feet 
apart. There is only one larger statue of the 
kind near them, and that is fallen, and meas- 
ures seventy-five feet from head to base, and 
is hewn from one block of sienite, a kind of 
granite, whose name was taken from a famous 
rock at Syene, in Upper Egypt, of which many 
monuments were formed. 

The Egyptians who built these statues be- 
lieved that when the morning sunbeams first 



fell upon the most eastern of them, its lips 
•would utter one melodious sound, like the vi- 
bration of a harp string, thus welcoming the 
returning day. Their idolatrous priests them- 
selves caused the sound, and the people were 
so ignorant they believed the false story they 
chose to tell about it. Our traveller visited 
these statues, and thus speaks of his visit : 
" As we sat before the statue of Memnon on 
our donkeys, I saw a boy of fifteen, with a sol- 
itary rag around his waist, scrambling up the 
side of the statue, and presently he was com- 
pletely hidden in its lap, just where the sly 
priest used to "hide himself over night ; then 
striking with a hammer the hollow, sonorous 
stone, it emitted a sharp, clear sound, like the 
striking of brass. It was not sunrise, but the 
middle of a scorching afternoon ; yet Memnon 
sounded. Moreover, it was Washington's 
birthday; and as the statue once sounded 
three times to salute the Emperor Hadrian, 
we made it utter three times three salutations 
to the rising Empire of the West. The sound 
had not yet died on my ear when the shirtless 
boy was at my side, crying, ' Backshish ! ' for 
he, like all priests, must have his gratuity for 
his temple service. ' Half a piastre,' said the 
guide. I should have been ashamed to pay 
only two cents for such a gratification had I 
not remembered that this, and its equivalent 
in treacle, is all that the present potentate of 
Egypt pays his subjects for a day's labor in his 
sugar fields. The boy was satisfied." 




•a 

83 

o 

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o 
O 
o 

is 

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28 



STORIES ABOUT EGYPT. 



29 



KARNAC. 



In Karnac, while the brilliant moon 
Shed round her mellow light, 

The traveller stood, and raptured gazed 
0, long-remembered night ! 



The temple in its grandeur stood 

In massive beauty rare, 
And Egypt's rise, and growth, and fall 

Were pictured to him there. 



He thought upon her ancient fame, 

Her pride in days of yore, 
And saw that God in wrath had thrown 

Her idol worship o'er. 



She bowed not to the King of kings, 
She held in bonds the slave, 

And God her wickedness repaid, 
And desolation gave. 



The Arab hovel plastered now 

Above Sesostris' tower, 
Proclaims that ruin, death, and shame, 

O'er sin, like storm clouds, lower. 



0, may our nation wisdom learn 
From nations passed away, 

One God proclaim, and free the slave 
Shout " Truth and Liberty." 




30 




A SLAVE BOAT AT GIRGEH. 

Dear children, now another sight 

Of sadness meets our eyes ; 
A boat whose freight, immortal souls, 

Are slaves to him who buys. 

A story sad it brings to mind, 

How,. far upon the sea, 
A ship was searched to find some slaves, 

And set the captives free. 

No slave they saw, till from a cask 
Was heard a moaning sound ; 

They opened it, and lo ! sad sight, 
Two slaves, half stifled, found — 

Two girls, torn from their parents dear, 
And borne far out to sea, 
■ Their kindred, friends, and native land, 
0, never more to see. 

And far abroad such kind of casks 

Were floating o'er the deep, 
Within which other slaves were made 

To sleep their last, long sleep. 

How horrible this tale, yet true ! 

And stories such are told, 
Full oft, of those who steal mankind, 

To sell, as slaves, for gold. 



0, better far is poverty, 

With Christian peace of mind, 
Than riches gained in this vile trade 

Of selling human kind. 



32 



STORIES ABOUT EGYPT. 



THE SPHINX. 



One of the most mysterious and impressive 
monuments of Egypt is the Sphinx, which 
represents a human head upon the body of an 
animal. It stands on the verge of the desert, 
whose sands are heaped around it, and meas- 
ures more than sixty feet from the ground to 
the crown of the head, more than a hundred 
feet around the forehead, and nearly a hundred 
and fifty feet in length, all cut from the solid 
rock. 

Our traveller ascended to the summit of the 



pyramids, which are among the wonders of the 
world, and were more than a century old when 
Abraham came into Egypt. " Abraham looked 
with wondering eyes upon this self-same mon- 
ument, and heard the then dim tradition of the 
tyrant who, having built it for his own sepul- 
chre by the sweat and blood of half a million 
of his subjects, was compelled to beg of his 
friends to bury him privately in some secret 
place, lest after his death his body should be 
dragged by the people from the hated tomb. 




The Sphinx. 



